First Night

So tonight went of without a hitch. The only odd thing was when I showed up, winds were about 8 knots. After preflighting the airplane and fuelin' it up, a windstorm from hell came around. It was now gusting to about 26 knots!!! No weather for 500 miles, and it was clear and a million, but lots of wind! I think my instructor ordered it just for me...I don't EVER fly in calm winds.

So the flying part wasn't anything new (most of the C-5 missions are at night, so used to that) and the landings were pretty easy too. There aren't any VASIs (glide slope indicators) at my field, so it took me a couple times around the pattern to get the sight picture right, but after that it was all "gravy".

We were scheduled to do some more instruction Friday, but we changed it to some solo work. My crosswind landings have come a long way, so I guess we I don't need anymore instruction on that. Things are still clipping along. So far, I need one more dual cross country (at night) and 3 solo cross countries (the first is scheduled for Saturday). After that, I will have what is called "3 in 60" which is an FAA requirement to have 3 hours of "checkride prep" within 60 days. One of those will be a "stage check" with another instructor to make sure I am ready for the checkride. I do think that mid-July is probable, at least if I can get my instructor to schedule the night cross country (he is not a big fan of working at night) and if I can get the examiner scheduled. I would probably actually be done SOONER than that, but my instructor wants to take vacation at the end of the month. Geez, what is the deal with that?

Totals so Far: Total Time: 33.5
Solo Time: 4.3
Total Landings: 120 (8 at night)
Total Cost: Holy Crap!!! I can't add that high!!!